Kingwood man charged in girlfriend’s murder

A Kingwood man is accused of killing his live-in girlfriend while her 8-year-old son slept in a room nearby.

Erick Charles Erminger, 44, was charged on Saturday with murder in the death of his longtime girlfriend, Jennifer McKinley, 28, said Fil Waters, a detective with the Houston Police Department’s homicide division.

Erminger and McKinley had dated for about three or four years, and they lived together with McKinley’s young son at an apartment in the 2100 block of Lake Hills in Kingwood, Waters said.

After leaving work on Friday, Erminger went with a friend to a bar off U.S. 59 and Greens Road, where he played pool and drank beer, Waters said. Erminger became inebriated and called his girlfriend to pick him up, the detective said.

“She’s agitated with him,” Waters said. “It’s late and she’s trying to get him out of the bar.”

The couple drove home, and McKinley tucked her son into bed, Waters said. Then McKinley joined Erminger in their bedroom, where they argued, the detective said.

In the morning, Erminger called his mother and confessed to killing McKinley, Waters said. He also allegedly threatened suicide.

The mother called authorities about 10:30 a.m. Police took Erminger in for questioning.

“He claims some kind of alcoholic amnesia,” Waters said. “He claims he doesn’t remember what they were arguing about or why they were arguing, but he says, ‘Yeah, I killed her.’”

McKinley’s cause of death is pending an autopsy by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Her son is now in the custody of his biological father.

Asked if Erminger has shown remorse, Waters said, “I’ll put it to you this way: I haven’t seen him shed any tears.”